More Occupational Forecasting

Just realized two things: I haven't written a post on the blog for months and several of the posts I HAVE written are about Kiefer's occupational aspirations. What can I say, it's good stuff and I get a real kick out of "I'm gonna be's".

This morning Kiefer carried his breakfast dishes across the room to the sink very carefully and told me "Mom, I'm gonna be a restaurant waiter guy someday."

Oh? Well, you're being very careful so I think you'd do a great job.

"Well, I'm still going to also be a rockstar, too."

If you are shooting for "rockstar" it's like 99% chance you will need to master "restaurant waiter guy" as well along the way... Good plan.

And I can't forget this one:

A couple of weeks ago was "Community Helpers" week at Kiefer's school. All the kids wrote their name on a paper along with the title of their future occupation. Most of the boys went with firefighter, police officer, Batman or Superman. One girl must have said "mom" out loud because all of the girls listed "mom" as their future occupation. Searching the wall, I finally landed on Kiefer's sheet that read, "P r e s i d e n t".

Car Fixer Guy

After explaining to Kiefer that I had to take the car in for a quick fix on something simple, he responded with the offer that HE could just fix it for me.

"Mom, you know I'm a car fixer guy. That's my job. And I'm a scientist...and a sailor man...and a rockstar."

Wow, that is quite a resume. "You have all of those jobs, Kiefer?" To which he replied "yes" and followed Forrest Gump Bubba style:

"I have lots of jobs. I am a guy who makes movies, a teacher, a fix-the-house guy, a sell-a-house guy, an alarm fixer, a fire fighter, a policeman and a hat maker. I'm a pirate, a ship maker, a knight, a trash can maker, a guy who sits out restaurant tables and the President."

Wow, so like the President of the United States?

"YES. I'm really busy, Mom. I do one job each day and then it starts over. Oh, wait...one more: I am also a lifeguard. And I'm the guy who does groceries. Ok, the very last one is museum night guard."

I guess I'll have to wait for car fixer guy day to roll back around on the schedule so he can take a look.

Good Day

This morning, the garage door opened to beautiful sunshine and some wonderful June heat...ahhh! SOOO much better than sub-zero... have I mentioned how much we love Spring and Summer?

Kiefer walked out onto the driveway instead of around to his door to the car so I continued my "come on let's get in the car" campaign... I climbed into the car to drop his bag and my purse and just as I was ready to repeat the "let's go" speech, I looked up to notice he was standing in the driveway with his arms outreached, face to the sun. I asked if he was soaking up some nice warm sun and he spun around and said "yeah, mama, this feels so good... I am gonna have a good day!"

Then transitioning into a sort-of robot voice while spinning he said, "I am soaking up lots and lots of gas so I can be super fast at school today! Ok, I have lots of gas now, mom, let's go. Ryan won't be able to catch me today!"

Soak up a minute or two of sun today and have a GREAT DAY!

Taco "Belle"

Last night, in a moment of delusional fast-food weakness, I decided I wanted to drive through Taco Bell for two tacos (despite the fact that I have plenty of food at home AND that I'm pretty much against anything including and/or below Applebees on the eating-out-or-fast-food food chain.) Sometimes I just get a weird hankering for that delicious combination of fake meat, sour cream, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and of course: authentic Taco Bell mild sauce.

As we pulled through the drive through, Kiefer asked "why is there a bell, mom?" spying the Taco Bell logo. Of course branding sort of being my thing, I started to launch into my take on why Taco Bell uses a bell in their logo and name... only to be corrected by the following explanation:

"No, I've got it Mama. Maybe someone who works at Taco Bell goes on vacation to Disney World and then when they're there, they dress up as Belle and then they are Belle at Disney World."

Well, that very well may be exactly right.

I'm A Really Good Artist

On a nice Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago, Kiefer and I were playing baseball in the backyard. I was impressed with how well he was hitting my not-so-great pitches and throwing the ball back to me.

"Kiefer, you are doing such a great job! You're really good at this!"

"Mom, I'm also a really good artist."

He followed with, "and you know what I'm going to be when I grow up?"

What?.....

"I'm gonna be a genius."

Well, that is an excellent aspiration. In the meantime, he's taking his "really good artist" title very seriously! Last week he drew a horse-drawn carriage on his easel, complete with the sun and clouds in the sky, a tree, some people and he asked me to draw some birds. Those two wing-dings in the sky were my contribution by request as he "didn't know how to make birds".


Last night, picking him up from school, he had just finished building a castle from legos. It was a very convincing four-sided castle-like structure. When Kiefer walked away from his design, two little girls, barbies in hand said "let's play with Kiefer's castle!"

So far, this artist thing looks like it's working for him. And...there's always the genius thing to fall back on if necessary.

Short Story

A Short Story... by Kiefer Ewy

"Once upon a time, there was a mean witch."

(pause)

"The End."

How can that not make you giggle? ;)

MagnaDoodle Message

There really are no special words necessary to explain a story here. I just wanted to capture this. Walking through the entryway tonight I had to step over Kiefer's MagnaDoodle that was left on the floor. It really made me smile. Big.

I'm so thankful for my sweet little guy. Tonight, walking through my quiet house and seeing this MagnaDoodle masterpiece made my heart grow three times it's size, Grinch style. Love you, little man.

Sweet Dreams

This morning, the first thing Kiefer said when he woke us was, "Mommy. God was reading me stories while I was sleeping last night." I did a triple-take after this comment and started asking questions. Sweet and interesting... Did he think he was dreaming, what kind of stories were they, etc.

He said, "the stories were not scary, they were nice!" I guess he associates dreams with nightmares - and I realized we probably talk more about dreams being bad than good. I asked if he could tell me what the stories were about and he said, "no Mama. I don't remember. That was just so long ago!"

I have noticed lately that it's not easy to "break it" to an innocent little guy that bad things happen in this world. I'm sure every parent encounters these topics around this age, but we've had several lately. Why is there dangerous weather? (earthquakes, tornadoes, etc) Why do people die? Why do accidents happen? But one thing remains - God is a part of all of these conversations and where there is bad....
there is also something good.

I'm thankful for God's Love and comfort not only for my child, but also for me on this journey called parenthood. It's not easy or always simple keeping up with a four-year-old question machine. I definitely don't have all the answers. But his questions keep me wondering, thinking and seeking God. Thank God for my son and for all the light He shines on this world - especially in the form of tender moments and sweet dreams.

Dinosaur 101

I received a little dinosaur 101 again this morning. Kiefer is still completely interested in everything about how dinosaurs lived, what happened to them and what makes them similar to or different from animals that live today. I suppose I can thank the Dinosaur Train on PBS along with every other book he's read or movie he's watched to gather all this knowledge!

"Mommy, did you know that pterodactyls are still alive today? That's weird. They must have just stayed away from the meteor. Or the cuddled up in a cave. And then made a little hole."

"And you know how dinosaurs got sick? Like if a great big T-Rex...SCRATCHED (insert reenactment scratching hands and scary mean face) them in the belly! Their bellies don't have anything to keep them safe. You know why they got sick, Mommy? Because back then they didn't have any MEDICINE!"